Our Weather This Week Before Christmas. Mild Is The Word

We're about a week away from Christmas. Right off the bat I'm sure everyone wants to know if there is any chance of a white Christmas anywhere in the state. 

​Short answer: it appears unlikely

For those of you who didn't X off of the article after that and are still here let's take a look at what we've got coming up, and (albeit a slight) chance for salvation. 

This coming week will continue the recent stretch of mild days with temperatures generally running around 5-10 degrees above average for this time of year. System wise there won't be much to deal with until Thursday when a low pressure system tracks across the Ohio valley. This will bring rain to much of the state on Thursday and perhaps lasting into Friday morning. 

There is a chance for snow to mix in briefly on the backside of this system, but there will not be much cold air filtering in behind it and unfortunately if any snow does manage to accumulate, it looks to be a grass/car surface kind of dusting situation. 

Temperatures on Friday will be a little bit chillier than the days before, but pretty normal and still generally above freezing. Highs in the mid 30s north and low to mid 40s south as winds briefly shift out of the north. 

The weekend looks dry with seasonal temperatures as high pressure settles in behind Thursday's system.

So, is there any chance for a white Christmas to be salvaged? Eeeeeeeeehhhhhh kinda maybe sorta possible but not really. Yup, thats how it looks right now.

On the positive side:

Models indicate a fairly active period of precipitation makers beginning right around Christmas and going into the new year. 

On the Negative side:

The current storm tracks shown would still support rain (and even thunderstorms if today's 12z GFS run is to be believed.) We all now that models can be quite unreliable in storm track evolution this far out. What appears like a storm maker could shift south 100 miles tomorrow and put snow in out picture - and then flip back again on the next runs.

As long as we've got an active pattern ahead it would be premature to put the nail in the coffin for a white Christmas, although right now I will only give it a 10/90 chance given the prevailing pattern being supportive of mild temps.

Stay tuned!